COTABATO CITY – The national government under the fresh leadership of President Aquino is urged to issue an executive order mandating line agencies involved in the halal industry for the Philippines to fully harness benefits from the trillion-dollar worldwide business.

This was the common battle-cry among officials of concerned government agencies in Region 12 and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) who gathered for the first time at the  Tapatan sa ARMM, a weekly public forum cum press conference held here recently.

Experts from the Department of Science and Technology (DoST), Department of Agriculture (DA), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), a private group, and journalists have expressed a common belief that the Philippines’ halal industry has been underdeveloped because of their “disharmonious” operations.

“Besides, the partner agencies of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) do not have ‘specific mandates’ that would require them to provide focal attention to the trillion-dollar halal industry, BFAR Region 12 Director Sani D. Macabalang said.

The creation of the NCMF, pursuant to the enactment of Republic Act (RA) 7779, on February 18, 2010, reconciled the separated technical authority of the government and the spiritual right of organized groups of ulama (Islamic scholars) to issue certification in adherence to an earlier Supreme Court (SC) decision.

RA 7779 provides for the appointment of an Ulama representative as one of the six commissioners of the NCMF, thereby ending the tug-of-war between the defunct Office on Muslim Affairs (a predecessor of the infant commission) over the question of spiritual and technical authorities on halal accreditation and certification.

However, Macabalang said the provision of RA 7779 on the partnership of the NCMF and line agencies like the DoST, DA, BFAR, Department of Health (DoH), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and other groups has remained unsatisfied because of the lack of implementing rules and regulations (IRR).

“The NCMF should have initiated the promulgation of the IRR upon its creation last February. The IRR could be in the form of an executive from the Office of the President, spelling out the mandates of the partner agencies of NCMF in the halal industry,” Macabalang said.

The absence of mandates for the partner agencies is causing disharmony in the works of institutions expected to promote and develop the halal industry, thus depriving the Philippines of potential shares from the huge worldwide business, he added.